


Little Boy Blue

by sullacat



Series: Little Hero (the bb Spock series) [2]
Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-17
Updated: 2011-04-17
Packaged: 2017-10-18 06:25:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/185960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sullacat/pseuds/sullacat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Out of tragedy, a family is born. Takes place about six months after <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/185952">To Have and To Hold</a> (2/8 in the bb Spock series)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little Boy Blue

**Author's Note:**

> No infringement intended, no profit made.

Bones ran into the transporter room with two medics behind him as Jim stumbled off the transporter pad, covered in green blood and holding a baby in his arms. "What happened?" he called out, with that panicked feeling in his stomach whenever Jim's away missions went awry.

Jim coughed, turning back to see who else was with him, nodding at the security officers, all catching their breath. "Kirk to the bridge, get me Chancellor Simok right now." He stopped as Bones began scanning, sighing deeply. "I'm fine," he murmured quietly. "But Sarek's dead."

"Where's Spock?" he asked, dumbstruck as Jim handed the baby in his arm to Bones. One glance at the ears told him everything. "You gotta be kidding..."

"Wish I was," Jim said as he walked quickly toward the door. "Look, I've got to find out what the fuck happened down there, who attacked the negotiation. Make sure he's okay," Jim added, "and I'll be down when I can."

Bones touched his arm. "Jim, what about Nyota."

 _Fuck_. Jim stopped. "Will you-"

"Yeah," he said, looking down at the infant in his arms, looking back at him with dark, dark eyes, his arms and clothes smeared with the blood of his father. "I'll tell her."

 

An hour later Jim entered Sickbay, trying not to limp on a clearly injured leg and headed toward the back where Bones was watching Spock sleep in a make-shift incubator. "Report?"

Bones' eyes moved from the small body sleeping to Jim. “DNA scans prove that he is indeed Spock. A healthy Vulcan/human hybrid approximately four weeks old. There's something going on with his metabolism, its in some sort of flux. Confusing the shit out of me, I'm still trying to figure it out." He rubbed his eyes. "Should know something in the morning when all the tests are done."

"Tell me this isn't permanent," Jim looked at him with pleading eyes. "Tell me you can fix it."

But Bones just shook his head." I don't know what to tell you. Give me a few more hours." He walked over to Jim’s side, scanning Jim’s leg. “I heard you guys were attacked. You okay?” he asked, pointing at the nearby biobed, watching as Jim hopped up.

Jim nodded with a sigh as Bones ran the tricorder. “They were after the Vulcans, all of them. As if they don’t have it bad enough right now, they’ve lost two more elders. Almost lost Spock,” he added quietly.

“C’mon Jim,” Bones said, smoothing the thigh muscle under Jim’s trousers. “He’s fine here, safe as a kitten, and I can’t do much until the tests finish running. I contacted Nyota, she's returning from the conference right away." Bones reached for Jim's hand. "We’ll get him sorted out soon - right now, let’s get some food in you.”

 

But neither man slept much that night. Jim woke up first, his leg aching and stiff. He didn't want to toss and turn and wake up Bones, so he dressed and headed down to Sickbay to check on Spock, who seemed to be wide awake, but fuck, so tiny. Jim reached in and touched his soft black hair, surprised how much of it there was on that little head. "You hungry?" he asked the gurgling baby, taking the bottle from the medic getting ready to feed him. "I'll take care of it," he told her with a smile. "Um - how do I do this?"

It didn't take a genius, apparently, to feed a baby. With a little help from one of the nurses, Jim got his arm propped up properly, Spock doing his best to drain the bottle, looking up at him with these eyes full of curiosity and wonder. Jim had never held a baby like this, and it felt weird inside. He didn't know how to explain it but... Jim felt a connection. That Spock knew it was him, his friend, trusted that Jim would take care of him, make things right.

Before the bottle was empty, the door to Sickbay slid open and Bones wandered inside, looking as if he’d just tossed on his uniform. "Hey there," Jim said softly, watching Spock's eyes begin to droop closed.

"Thought you might be here,” Bones said quietly, standing behind Jim. “How is he?"

"Call me crazy, but I think he's bigger," he began whispering as Spock’s eyes closed.

"He is bigger. Hey, wait a minute, don't-" Bones carefully took the baby and placed him on his shoulder. "Gotta burp them before they fall asleep, or they get fussy."

Jim watched Bones as he expertly stroked Spock's back, alternating between small circles and quick pats. "You know about all this, I guess."

“Was a while back, but some things you never forget,” he told him, Spock rewarding him with a wet burp. Once he was back in his incubator, Bones ran the scanner over him. “He's grown. We need a few more hours of data,” Bones said, looking down at the now sleeping baby, “but I think that this is temporary.”

Jim's sigh was audible. “Thank fuck,” he whispered, standing. “Okay, then, I feel better.”

"Tomorrow - I'll give you a full report tomorrow," Bones said, tugging at Jim's arm. "Hopefully Nyota will be here by them."

 

Bones met with them tomorrow in his office after letting Nyota spend some time with Spock. "Okay, we've got some good news and some bad news,” he said as he sat down opposite them both in his office, away from the baby so he could have their full attention. “The pulse that killed Sarek was stymied in Spock by his human genetic contribution. That's why he survived; instead of killing him, it sent him back to infancy. But its not permanent," he told them with a relived grin. "Spock's metabolism remains in this state of heightened growth. He is growing as we speak, though it appears to happen primarily when he sleeps and the majority of his voluntary body functions are dormant." Both Jim and Nyota sighed in relief at this, Nyota sniffling and wiping her nose as she listened.

"And the bad news?"

"Its not as fast as I'd hoped. I mean, as far as growing goes, its pretty damn fast. According to our scans and my best estimate, he's four days older than he was yesterday."

Jim began mentally calculating. "At that rate that means in a month he’d be about three months old - ninety days or so."

Bones nodded. "In one year, if present growth patterns continue, he'll be four years old."

Despite this good news, Jim wasn't entirely pleased. "And there isn't anything we can do to accellerate this?"

"Not as far as I can tell."

The room was quiet for a long time before Nyota finally broke the silence. "So, five years until he's grown."

Jim and Bones looked at each other. "Probably sooner," Jim said. "Vulcans get started sooner, they consider themselves adults earlier than we do." He looked at Bones. "Will he have his memories?"

Bones shrugged. "I don't know..." He looked over at Nyota. "We need to talk about caring for him, where he'll stay, nutrition."

Suddenly she stood up. "I need to think about this a moment." Looking over at Jim and Bones, she took a deep breath, apologized again and left the room, leaving them to stare at each other in confusion.

 

Nyota was back an hour later. Jim got the message from Bones and walked into Sickbay to find her with Spock, rocking him gently as she fed him. "He's a hungry little thing, isn't he?" she said, her eyes red rimmed.

"We're all going to help you out with this," Jim told her, one hand on her shoulder.

"I know, I just -" she looked up at him. "I don't think I can do this," she whispered, looking a little lost.

Jim stared at her, as if he didn't hear her right. "What?"

"Its not about the work, or taking care of him. I love him, more than anything in the world, Jim, but look at him." His tiny fist was gripping tight on her finger and her voice broke as she stroked his small pointed ear. "It would change everything about our marriage if I became his mother. In five years, when he's twenty, will he still want to be married to the woman who raised him? Who disciplined him and picked his clothes and taught him everything he needed to know?"

"Nyota," Bones said, joining the conversation. He sat next to her, resting his arm on her shoulder but he didn't say anything else. What could either of them say?

"I don't think we would survive, as a couple. I mean, I'll do it, if no one else can, I will. I love him more than I can say, but I just..." she sobbed quietly, handing Spock to Bones before reaching for something to wipe her nose. Nyota dropped her face to her hands for a moment before looking back up at them. "Tell me I'm not a terrible person for feeling this way."

Jim walked over and hugged her. "Of course not," he said, letting her cry on his shoulder for a little bit, though he was conflicted about her reaction to this. She didn't want to take care of her _husband_? "Don't worry about it, I'm going to take care of this."

He was the captain, that’s what he did.

Jim looked over at Bones holding baby Spock, and a decision was made. "Look, let us talk about it, okay?"

Nyota looked up at Jim, looking as if her heart was broken, unsure what to do or where to do. She reached down and touched Spock again, a little smile on her face. "He's beautiful, isn't he?" she said before slowly leaving them to talk.

It occurred to him that she had lost her husband, even knowing it was a temporary thing - the idea of five years without Bones at his side would hurt more than he could imagine.

 

Once the doors closed, Bones turned to him. "Tell me you're not thinking what I think you're thinking."

"What else are we gonna do?” he said, taking Spock and trying to mimic Bones’ actions the previous day, resting him on his shoulder and rubbing his back. “She's got a point, and you said so yourself. It's only a couple years."

Bones walked to him, putting a rag under Spock’s head as he looked at Jim, taking his hand and guiding the motions to get Spock to burp. "Talk to me," Jim asked him.

"I think that babies are hard work," Bones said honestly, eyes looking back at the infant staring back at him. "They're a commitment, they need constant supervision, not to mention we know nothing about raising a Vulcan."

"All of that applies to her, and we could learn. We at least have each other." Bones looked up at that. "And who better to monitor his progress than a doctor."

"You don't think he's got family that would want to take care of him?"

"Not anyone close, you know that." Spock's parents were dead, and the Vulcans left - who knew if any of those in Spock's clan would take him in... or worse, would raise him to be more like them, want to keep him when he grew.

"Jim, this is more than just babysitting. If we did this, really did this, its being parents, and all that it entails."

 _Parents_. Someone's parent. "I want to try this," Jim told him, feeling himself resolved to this decision with each second that passed, each tiny breath he felt Spock make as he rested against his chest. "It might not work, but fuck, he's my officer and my friend and I got him into this mess. If it means I spend five years making it up to him, I'm willing to do that. I owe it to him." Jim's voice got quiet. "But I can't do it alone."

Bones looked down at the baby in Jim’s arms, starting to wriggle and move. He smiled, the corners of his mouth turning up involuntarily at the cooing noises Spock was making, and Jim could see Bones being affected as well. "We can try."

Something about that decision being made changed everything. Jim felt a weight both lifting from his shoulders, only to settle back down there again a moment later as he glanced at the baby. His responsibility, for the time being, in a way no other crew member could be. "Thanks, Bones. I know this is a lot, but... it feels like the right thing to do."

Spock began gurgling, so Bones picked him up and rested the baby against his shoulder. "Been a long time since I held one of these for this long," he told Jim, a little smile on his face. "I think we're going to have to do some redecorating. Starships aren't exactly built for families."

"Maybe have to look into getting a suite, maybe one of the guest suites with more than one room."

"Four, five years. You think they could make it at that point?" Bones asked as he stood and put Spock back in his incubator.

"Spock and Nyota?" Jim shrugged. "No idea. At that point, they'll have to decide if they're going to make a go for it." His eyes fell on the sleeping baby, his tiny chest rising and falling under the blanket. "I don't want him to stay here tonight."

Bones stood behind him, wrapping an arm around him and resting his head on Jim's shoulder, a rare act of affection in the workplace, but this was a momentous decision. Together they would raise Spock. After a moment, Bones took a breath and said, "Then we need to get some things down to our place."

 

Later that evening, the three of them all settled in the Captain's (and CMO's) quarters, complete with a make-shift crib in one corner. Nyota had come by to see them and together they told her their plans, to raise Spock as long as they could, to make sure that he was taken care of, to make sure he was safe.

She hugged them both, offering to be there whenever they needed more help. "He's still my husband. I want to do what's best for him, I really do. I need to be a part of his life, every day," she told them through her tears, and Jim believed that she meant it, hoped that they could make this work, together.

 

The temperature of the room was warmer than either man was used to, but that didn’t seem to matter to either of them at the moment.

Laying Spock down after his evening meal, two men sat on their bed, holding hands as they watched the dark-haired baby with pointed ears sleeping peacefully, unaware of the tumult he created by surviving.


End file.
